


Nothing To Fear But Truth Itself

by Ladytalon



Series: The Doctors Light [17]
Category: DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Humor, Psychotropic Drugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-27
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-04-06 12:06:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4221135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladytalon/pseuds/Ladytalon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It must be something in the water. <b>EARTH-14</b></p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing To Fear But Truth Itself

“That’s it, I’m calling Arthur to come get her,” Power Girl said, stomping over to where Tora was frantically trying to flag down a passing waiter. “ _Excuse_ me.” She reached out a hand to grab the guy and hauled him in. “We need bottled water, and we need it now. If you have any tap water in pitchers, or on the other tables, you need to dump it immediately; it’s been drugged.”

“S-sure,” the man stammered, and Kara reached out to grip his chin and lift his head so he would stop staring at her breasts.

“Thanks so much.”

Tora sighed. “You’re so assertive – I just couldn’t.”

“That’s why I came over here… oh, no.” She took her friend’s arm and pulled her back towards their table, where Kimiyo and Bea had found yet another thing to loudly discuss. “Why don’t you call him, and I’ll try to shut them up. Since when does _Bea_ drink tap water? What a fucking nightmare.”

Tora could certainly agree with that assessment. What had begun as a rather innocent (well, as innocent as you could get when Beatriz DaCosta was along for the ride) girl’s night out had turned into a no-holds-barred…truthathon. If that was even a word. Whatever it was, it was terrible and she wished it would stop. She dug in her purse and scrolled through her contact list until she found Arthur Light’s profile picture – he had levitated a lightbulb for her when she asked for a photo and it really was the cutest thing – and called him.

“ _Hey, Tora – everything okay_?” the supervillain asked politely. 

A swell of laughter in the background showed that the boys were certainly having a good time, and she sighed inwardly at having to cut their bonding time short. “Actually… no? Kimiyo and Bea-”

“ _Where are you?_ ” Arthur interrupted.

“Foley’s Bar and Grill, but” a dial tone cut her off and Tora sighed again “don’t bring the others with you.” She waved her arms frantically to get Kara’s attention, and then turned to run for the door. Outside, the street was filling up with jaded first responders and Tora flattened herself against the faux brick, closing her eyes against the bright flash of light that heralded Arthur’s arrival with Guy, Gavril, and Pieter. 

“Where is she?”

Tora grasped his arm and stopped him from heading through the doors. “She’s _fine_. Kind of. Gavril, Bea’s okay – something got into the water.” 

Guy and Pieter exchanged glances and she caught a mutter of ‘fucking Gotham’ as she turned to the other two. “Beatriz is strong woman,” Gavril stated. “What was in her water?”

“Was it fear toxin? It was fear toxin, wasn’t it?! Gonna wring Crane’s neck like a fucking _chicken_ ,” Arthur said, lunging for the door again.

“ _Wait!_ Tora bellowed, which took them all aback. She felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to… well, er, _anyway_ … it’s not fear toxin so much as, um, sodium pentothal that just won’t quit.”

Arthur abruptly lost his desire to charge into the fray. “ _Ohhhh_. Oh, no. _No,_ no.”

“We’d better go help, Doctor,” Pieter Cross said, only sounding mildly disapproving as he turned to look at the other man.

“ _You_ go help. I’m not going anywhere near that woman while she-”

The door burst open and Kara latched onto both Arthur and Gavril’s forearms before yanking them inside the bar. “ _Get in here, god dammit!_ ”

“How bad could it be? Both of ‘em tell it like they see it all the damn time,” Guy said, leaning down to kiss her on the lips. “How ya doin’, babe.”

Tora wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned against him. “I’ll feel better when _they_ feel better. We just forgot we weren’t supposed to drink the water here, that’s all,” she said apologetically. “It’s been ages since we were in Gotham together.”

The neon lights of the beer advertisements reflected in Pieter’s dark glasses as he turned towards her. “I think it’s gotten to be a bit commonplace and I seriously doubt the effects are permanent. What were the symptoms?” he asked with an encouraging smile.

“Well, it’s almost as if they’re both _drunk_ but all Bea had were two cosmopolitans, one Long Island iced tea, a shot of something the bartender set on fire... and the water. Kimiyo only had a glass of wine because she said she wanted to… I mean, she just had one glass,” Tora stammered, suddenly remembering exactly why her friend hadn’t wanted to get drunk. It was also probably why Kara had wanted her to call Arthur. “Oh, dear.”

She ran back inside to see Gavril and Bea having an argument about something, but thankfully Kimiyo and Arthur were talking quietly together while he moved his finger in front of her face to check her reflexes. Kara didn’t seem very happy about it, and walked over to Pieter as the other men joined them. “This isn’t working out the way I’d hoped,” she sighed. “Did you have fun?”

“We had a very nice time,” Pieter said, reaching for her hand. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out… _what_ things, exactly?”

“Oh, you know. Things,” Kara replied evasively. “I should go and see what they’re doing about shutting down the water…”

Pieter’s frown deepened. “This is Gotham City, Karen. I’m fairly certain they have it all under control. I’ll just check these two first and then we’ll work on separating other victims from their water glasses-”

“Already done; we dumped it all once we figured out what was going on.”

Guy had been too busy looking around to interrupt and blame Kara for letting the other women drink actual Gotham City tap water, but he turned back upon hearing Power Girl’s last few words. “How’d it start?” he asked curiously.

“Our server came by to ask what we thought of our meal, and Bea told him,” Tora said. Boy, had she told him.

They moved over to their table, and Bea looked up to see Guy with his arm around Tora’s shoulder. “Why don’t you just whip it out and piss on her leg, Gardner? Jesus, you’re always trying to mark your territory…”

Oh, no. “It’s okay, Bea. He’s just trying to comfort me,” Tora explained, hoping this wouldn’t turn into a word association free-for-all. “Please, let’s talk about something else. What flowers did Gavril buy you last week? I can’t remember the names but I can’t believe they’re still blooming!”

“I love flowers,” Kimiyo said suddenly. “Artie brings me flowers whenever I let him have sex with me at work. One time he was dressed as a UPS man, and-”

“ _Thank you_ , Kim,” Arthur interrupted, snapping his fingers in front of her face. “Eyes over _here_ please.”

Pieter pulled up a chair. “It’s not really necessary for her to keep tracking your finger.”

“No shit, Sherlock. It keeps her busy, and a busy Kimiyo is a Kimiyo who doesn’t have time to gossip about me.” 

Tora moved back over to Guy, who had gone to peer out the front windows of the bar. “I feel bad about calling if they really _are_ going to be okay. Did I interrupt something really fun? I’m sorry,” she apologized again.

Guy just laughed and gave her another hug, rubbing her back lovingly. “No need for that, babygirl. Lucky we were hangin’ out with old Eagle Eyes over there since Kim’s down for the count.”

“Don’t call him that,” she said exasperatedly, and he laughed again.

“See what kinda friend you are? They couldn’t ask for a better one, honey, so stop worrying about callin’ for help. Okay? Let’s see a smile, now,” her Lantern ordered, and Tora smiled up at him despite herself; he always knew just how to put her at ease. Guy stroked his thumb over her cheek. “There’s my girl.”

She snuggled against his chest and sighed as he played with her hair. “I wonder when we can all leave?”

“Just talked to some of them EMTs out there,” Guy said, gesturing towards the door. “They want everyone to stay put until they figure out what kinda time span we’re looking at – gotta narrow it down to the first person who took a drink.”

Tora couldn’t see why the restaurants didn’t just stock water purifiers, because she knew several people who lived in Gotham City who used them and they seemed to get along fine. Maybe an industrial-sized one was just too expensive, or something. They talked for a few more minutes, then went back over to see how their friends were doing. Bea and Gavril seemed to have worked out their differences, judging from all the kissing they were doing, and Tora sighed happily. She didn’t like it when other couples fought, but somehow it always seemed so romantic when they made up after all that quarreling.

Kimiyo smiled up at them when she saw Tora’s expression. “I’d be happy if I got to screw him, too,” she said. Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “I’ve never slept with a redhead before – does the rug really match the drapes? I want to see.”

Guy laughed. “Got a wild one, my son,” he told Arthur. “Who’d’a thought?”

“You have no idea,” Arthur murmured, checking his watch. “I should just get her out of here; they can’t really make _us_ stay…”

“She needs to be kept under _observation_ ,” Pieter said for what was obviously not the first time.

Kara snickered a little too meanly for Tora’s peace of mind. “Yes, Arthur, we’re here to observe. This is getting too good to miss.”

“I thought you were supposed to be her best friend, Kara. What happened, did your implants take up too much space and they had to remove your heart to make room?” Arthur snapped.

Kimiyo shook her head. “You two are always fighting, I swear one of these days I should lock you both in a room together and let you bang it out. I don’t like sharing, but it’s probably for the greater good.”

“Ugh,” they both said, almost in unison.

Tora pulled up a chair and reached across the table to take Kimiyo’s hands. “So, what kind of flowers does Arthur bring you?” she asked, unable to think of anything else to distract the other woman with.

“You’re sweet, Tora,” Kimiyo said, patting her hands. “Really sweet. Naïve, I would say, but there’s no way you could really be naïve if you’re constantly exposed to Guy. Haha, I said _exposed_. Did you hear that, Artie?”

“With my own two ears.”

Kimiyo turned towards him with an exaggerated pout. “There you go again, acting like I’m no fun. I’m _fun_ , Arthur Light. I’m so much fun, you don’t even know.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m aware of how fun you are,” Arthur replied. “So, about _flowers_ -”

She laughed and reached up to pat his cheeks, then tugged on his beard. “Not now, I have to tell them how fun I am.”

“Please don’t.”

Kimiyo turned in her chair and waved her hands for attention. “Okay, okay. There was this one time we were at the movies, right? And you know that trick where the guy – I mean in general, not _Tora’s_ Guy, though I bet you a million dollars he’s done it to her because just look at this asshole over here – anyway, he cuts a hole in the popcorn bucket and puts his penis in there. Anyway, Arthur didn’t do it… not this time, anyway… _I_ did! I put a dildo in there and asked if he wanted to share the popcorn with me,” she said, and they exchanged shocked glances. Arthur just shook his head and looked away, trying to hide a grin. “You should have seen his face when he reached his hand in,” Kimiyo laughed. “See? I’m _fun_!”

Guy roared appreciatively. “Damn, that’s pretty good.”

“Want to know the best thing about it?” Kimiyo said, leaning in. “He still hasn’t put two and two together to figure out that I didn’t bring my purse in.”

Tora frowned. “But how did you bring it into the theater if you didn’t have… oh. _Oh_ ,” she shrieked in realization. “Kimiyo, oh my _gosh_! No you didn’t!”

Arthur put his forehead down onto the table and covered his head with the dessert menu. “ _Jesus_ , Miko…!”

Pieter whipped his dark glasses off and polished them, clearing his throat loudly. “ _Well._ ”

“ _Dude_! Oh, my _God_ ,” Guy howled, going over to fling himself over Arthur’s shoulders and pound his friend’s back. “She’s a live one for _damned_ sure.”

When the laughter subsided enough for Arthur to come out of hiding, Tora opened one of the water bottles Pieter passed around. “This hasn’t turned out to be half bad,” Kara mused, extending her own bottle towards Tora. “Cheers.”

She still didn’t think it was very nice of her to be so happy about embarrassing the men so much. “You’re better than this,” Tora said softly, and Kara lifted her chin defensively. “Please think about how they’ll feel about the things they’re saying.”

“Bea won’t care – she’d say it anyway, and Kimiyo always talks about _him_ whenever we’re out together.”

“I know that, and I’m sure _he_ knows it, but there’s a big difference between knowing and being there when it happens. You know private he is,” Tora chided. “I’d like to stay and make sure they’ll be okay, but I also know that Arthur and Gavril will take care of them.”

Kara looked away. “You’re right, I just… I wanted to see him embarrassed like he embarrasses her.”

“He doesn’t do it in the same way,” Tora pointed out. “And it’s meant in fun. What if the four of us go to that new place in Bludhaven? Does Pieter like Thai? It’s close enough to fly, I think.” The abrupt change of subject obviously relieved Kara, but she could see that her friend was still thinking about what she’d told her.

She went back over to sit beside Bea, who was busily trading gossip with Kimiyo while Arthur was on the phone with someone. “Hey, Tora – guess what? He banged both Dibnys; can you believe it? I always thought something was fishy about those ‘movie nights,’” Bea hooted. “That’s right up there with the time I walked in on Gavril using one of my-”

“Beatriz,” her boyfriend warned. “ _Nyet_.”

“I am going to _kill_ you,” Arthur hissed into his cell. “Your ass is grass, Crane, and I’m the fucking _lawnmower_ …!”

“That’s not very scandalous, Arthur does _that_ all the time-”

“ _Murder_ , Jon!!!”

“Does he really?”

“You know who Merlyn is, right? Well, they used to date and _he_ once told me that they-”

Arthur reached over to place his hand over Kimiyo’s mouth. “Fine, I’ll settle for giving you a concussion and two black eyes… but only because I’m not leaving her by herself as long as it takes to rip you limb from limb! I’ll ‘port over and pick it up in five minutes.” He ended the call by standing up, throwing the phone on the chair, and sitting on top of it. Tora had watched him do it a few times before finally asking Kimiyo about it; it had apparently become a habit after Arthur had begun to carry a cell phone because there was nothing to slam down in the receiver to hang up on whomever he was talking to. It was a little weird but given that he had the ability to teleport directly to the other person and deliver upon his threats of violence, Tora was inclined to let Arthur have the satisfaction of hanging up on people the way he chose.

Pieter frowned over at him. “Why are you sitting on your phone?”

“What?”

“Your phone. You just sat down on your phone.”

“Haven’t you ever wanted to hang up on someone really violently when you weren’t using a landline?” Arthur demanded. “That’s right up there with needing to slam a door behind you, but it’s one of those motion-sensor ones.”

Kimiyo laughed. “He kicks the doorframe when that happens.”

“What’s goin’ on with the water? He say anything about it?” Guy asked. “We don’t get Kara out of here before that wears off, there’s bound to be more trouble.”

Power Girl flipped him off with both hands. “Go to hell, Gardner-”

“Been there, done that _and_ with you along for the ride.”

Arthur waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “It’s fine. I’m due to pick up the antidote in…well, it’s more like three minutes now. If you want to take off, and if Gavril can keep an eye on Kim…”

The Russian nodded in agreement, and Tora immediately outlined her plans for dinner. “If it’s okay, I’d like to stick around to make sure they’ll be okay before we leave. I think I saw a few packs of cards over at the bar, so why don’t we play a hand of something while we wait? It would take everyone’s minds off of…this,” she suggested. 

Arthur got up to ask the bartender for the cards, bringing two more bottles of water back with him. Bea gazed at him intently as he sat back down, reaching across the table to slide the cards over to Guy. “I’ve always thought that beard looks stupid, but I’d definitely fuck you,” Tora’s best friend said thoughtfully.

“Okay then. Good to know,” Arthur said, glancing over at Gavril who simply shrugged at him. “I’ll sit this one out since I have to leave soon.”

Kimiyo leaned against him with a sigh. “Ask me what I’m thinking about, honey.”

Tora winced as he was distracted enough to fall for it. “What are you thinking?”

“About bouncing on your dick,” she laughed with an exaggerated wink.

The big man sighed heavily. “That’s also good to know. Thank you for sharing that with absolutely _everyone_ , and I think it’s time for me to go now. Think about flowers and play cards until I get back, okay?” He gave Tora a pleading look as he stood up to leave, and she patted his arm sympathetically. 

“Sometimes he just needs to lighten up,” Kimiyo said, then paused. “ _Lighten up_! Haha!”

Guy scissored his arms to get everyone’s attention. “Mmkay, let’s get goin’ – this gonna be a betting hand or what?”

“I’ll ‘bet’ Gavril could kick your ass even _with_ that ring still on your finger,” Bea challenged.

“Uh huh,” he said, shuffling the cards. “You hearin’ this, Gav?”

Rocket Red shrugged expressively. “What? Is true.”

“Now, wait just a goddamned minute…!”

Tora slid her hand around Guy’s bicep to keep him there beside her. “Sweetie, no.”

“You hear what he just said, or d’ya need a freaking Q-tip? He just-”

“He just took a drink of the drugged water, so take it easy.” That wasn’t exactly true, but if it kept them from a fistfight she was willing to lie about it.

Kara disengaged from her whispered conversation with Pieter. “ _What?_ Red, did you really drink that water?”

“I forgot,” he said sheepishly. “I do not feel different.”

“That’s just _great_ ,” Guy complained loudly. Tora just sighed at having her white lie become glaring truth. It figured.

Tora rubbed her hand along his thigh and turned to the member of their group who had been talking the least. “Sorry for…this,” she apologized. “It’s not always like this, I promise.”

Pieter smiled slightly. “I sincerely hope not. Tonight has been, well, _educational_ would be the only way to put it.”

“That’s probably putting it very lightly.” She shook her head and grimaced. “There’s really no way to avoid those puns when we’re out with both Doctors.”

They made small talk until Arthur returned with two syringes, and they had to break it to him that Gavril had accidentally ingested the drug as well. He flatly refused to return to Scarecrow for more antidote on the grounds that he really would murder the man if he had to come face to face with him once more, and slapped one of the syringes down on the table. He reached for Kimiyo’s hand, rolling up her sleeve and rubbing his thumb to feel for the bones of her upper arm. “Inject it into the muscle _here_ ,” Arthur murmured to Tora, who crowded closer to watch. “It’s about one or two inches below the bone – do you see how this area is like a triangle? You want the needle directly in the middle of it,” he said, tracing his finger over Kimiyo’s arm.

“That tickles, and- _ow!_ ” her friend yelled, bringing her other hand up to slap Arthur across the face.

“Maybe I could have someone hold her other arm down while I do that,” Tora suggested as Arthur rubbed the red mark on his cheek while Kara and Bea laughed. “Are you okay?”

“It could have been worse; she could have punched me,” Arthur said, dropping his hand to reach out for Kimiyo who was swaying in her seat.

“I…I don’t feel so good,” Kimiyo said, and promptly passed out.

Guy volunteered to give Bea her injection and Tora elbowed him in the ribs. “Just make sure she doesn’t slap me... but maybe we should wait to make sure Kim is okay first? I don’t know,” she said worriedly.

“She’s coming ‘round,” Pieter announced, leaning back from where he’d been checking her vital signs. “Kimiyo? Do you know where you are right now?”

Kimiyo rubbed at her forehead, looking confused. “What _happened?_ Arthur, what’s going on?”

“Crane was having some fun with the locals again,” he said, brushing her hair out of her eyes. “How are you feeling?”

“Like someone ran me over with a cement truck,” she admitted. “I…I remember saying things that-”

Arthur looked around, narrowing his eyes at Kara. “You were probably just hallucinating. When I got here, you weren’t saying anything at all… just swaying in your seat staring at the neon beer signs.”

“Are you sure? Because I could swear that I…”

Tora started fumbling with the syringe so that Bea could revert to normal as well. “Nope, all in your head.” She glared at Guy who was laughing so hard he could barely breathe. “ _Guy_.”

“Definitely all in your head, Kim,” Power Girl insisted.

Gavril seized the moment to make everything ten times worse. “You were making sex talk about-”

“Oh, God,” Kimiyo said, clapping her hands over her face. “This is so embarrassing, I can’t believe it.”

Arthur slid his arm around her, leaning in close to whisper something to her that made her sit up straighter. “Let’s get you home, okay? If you’re still hungry, we can stop somewhere on the way.”

Tora cleared her throat loudly, finished injecting Bea with the antidote, and made a ‘shoo’ gesture. “Yes, that’s a great idea. Why don’t you two just go on home and I’ll give you a call in the morning? We’re just about to get some Thai at that new place.”

“Tonight has been an unmitigated disaster,” Kimiyo said dismally. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what got into me.”

“I know what’s gonna get into you later,” Guy hooted. “Have fun, Doctor Horndog.”

“ _Guy!_ ”

Arthur just shook his head and smiled. “Hey, Gavril. Why don’t you tell Guy what you _really_ think about him?”

“That’s cold, man…”

“And while you’re at it, say a few words about _Kara_ ,” Arthur said, blowing Power Girl a kiss that she glared at him for. “See you later, kids.”

They teleported away in a wash of bright light, and Tora sighed as Gavril immediately took the supervillain’s advice. What a night. The next time she heard anyone mentioning honesty being the best policy, she _definitely_ had a thing or two to tell them.


End file.
